Election security forces not there to hurt people - minister

Record ID: 905547

  • Title: Election security forces not there to hurt people - minister
  • Date: 7th August 2017
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (AUGUST 7, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** KENYAN INTERIOR MINISTER FRED MATIANGI WALKING TOWARDS PODIUM WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GENERAL VIEW OF MATIANGI AND COLLEAGUES PREPARING TO ADDRESS MEDIA INFORMATION MINISTER, JOSEPH MUCHERU, AND PRESIDENTIAL CHIEF OF STAFF, JOSEPH KINYUA INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE, JOSEPH BOINNET (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERIOR MINISTER, FRED MATIANGI, SAYING: "In terms of security deployment, I have heard and observed people saying that we have deployed more security resources in some parts of the country than others. It's not true. Our deployment and management of security in support of the IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) is demand-driven, in other words, we sit down with IEBC, the Inspector General of Police has sat down with the IEBC, and they worked on what the IEBC would need, and that's the basis upon which he has assigned a total of about 150,000 officers drawn from area formations to support the IEBC." MORE OF MATIANGI AND CABINET COLLEAGUES FOREIGN MINISTER AMINA MOHAMED (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERIOR MINISTER, FRED MATIANGI, SAYING: "Our security forces are not at the polling stations to hurt the people, they are there to facilitate our people, they are there to ensure the citizens of this nation enjoy, exercise and they are free to do so as their democratic right tomorrow in terms of voting. We have no plans in place to be violent or to mistreat our citizens because it does not exist in the code of conduct of our police." MATIANGI AND OTHERS WALKING AWAY FROM THE PODIUM AFRICAN UNION OBSERVER MISSION ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE, LED BY FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT, THABO MBEKI VARIOUS OF AU OBSERVER MISSION MEMBERS SITTING ON PODIUM, MBEKI SECOND FROM RIGHT AFRICAN UNION EMBLEM
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2017 16:40
  • Keywords: Kenyan presidential election security Interior Minister Fred Matiangi African Union observer mission Thabo Mbeki
  • Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City: NAIROBI, KENYA
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016T5S0UF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Kenyan Interior Minister Fred Matiangi told voters on Monday (August 7), on the eve of a presidential election, that security forces were there to protect voters from any violence, not threaten them.
    With opinion polls putting opposition leader Raila Odinga neck-and-neck with the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta, many fear the vote could descend into violence.
    In 2007, Odinga's call for street protests after problems with the vote count triggered a widespread campaign of ethnic violence in which 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced.
    In addition to local monitoring groups, the African Union has sent an international team to observe the vote, headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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